In 1864, Arthur Bell Nicholls, spouse to the deceased author Charlotte Brontë, tied the knot with his kin and fellow Protestant, Mary Anna Bell. Arthur, who was born in Co Antrim and raised in Bell’s house in Banagher, Co Offaly, lived with his new wife for over four decades until he passed away in 1906. The house was filled with relics from the Brontë family, inherited from Charlotte and her Irish father, Patrick Brontë, whose original surname was Brunty. Arthur previously served Patrick as an assistant curate in Haworth, Yorkshire.
Martina Devlin’s novel explores the complex feelings of the bereaved Mary in 1913, who reflects upon her years of prioritising Arthur’s devotion to his late wife. Mary is now the legal possessor of the remaining Brontë artefacts, which Arthur had started getting rid of due to monetary constraints caused by the Land Acts. Mary contemplates selling the remains even as Charlotte garners increased media attention following her passionate letters to her already married instructor, Constantin Heger, published in The Times.
Mary’s recollections span from her fleeting interaction with Charlotte during her honeymoon in Ireland post-famine in 1854, to her own marital years with Arthur. Her storytelling incorporates fictional matters such as letter exchanges, interview accounts and a cryptic manuscript tale, along with episodes harking back to Brontë’s existence and her book plots, together with a fictional subplot about an out-of-wedlock birth.
Like Devlin’s earlier novel, Edith (2022), Charlotte delves into the Anglo-Irish attitude of uneasy bequests and split allegiances. Although, the abundant incidents and a widespread timeline detract from the atmospheric intensity and the narrative drive that Edith’s consistently focused and orderly structure accomplished.
Brontë’s semi-Irish, semi-English heritage is primarily subjected to the restrictions of counterfactual history, such as Charlotte making a daring escape from her honeymoon in Dublin so as to visit her Brunty family in Co Down, this is despite Patrick’s mortification towards their rustic customs and Catholic lineage. Her Uncle William’s participation in the events of 1798 is alluded, perhaps wryly by Arthur, who made the comment, “What other secrets could be unearthed, I bet there’re traces of Irish insurrections”, alongside two episodes in which the Nichollses feel threatened by the Brunty family’s rooster, fittingly named Henry Joy McCracken. Charlotte perceives this mildly, justifying with, “It was a mere assertion of his dominion.”